6 
 
 7 
 
 
 5 i 
 7j 
 1 ! 
 
 OTHER POEMS 
 
 BENJAMIN R. BULKELEY 
 
 tcility 

 
 THE SHIFTING WIND
 
 The Shifting Wind 
 
 gf 
 
 Other Poems 
 
 by 
 Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley 
 
 CHICAGO: MDCCCXCV
 
 COPYRIGHTED BY 
 
 B. R. BULKELEY 
 
 MDCCCXCV
 
 A NUMBER OF THESE POEMS HAVE BEEN 
 PUBLISHED BEFORE IN VARIOUS PERIOD- 
 ICALS. THE AUTHOR WOULD MAKE 
 ESPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO MESSRS. 
 HARPER AND BROTHERS FOR PERMISSION 
 TO REPRINT THE SONNET "LOVE THE 
 CROWN OF CREATION," WHICH APPEARED 
 IN HARPER'S MONTHLY FOR NOVEMBER, 
 1889.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 FOR "ONE" READ "SONG" IN LINE 2 
 
 PAGE l6. 
 FOR "AUGHT" READ "OUGHT" INLINE 
 
 7 PAGE 36.
 
 The Shifting Wind 
 
 THE SHIFTING WIND 
 
 Hark ! now the fickle wind has turned 
 
 And calleth loudly to my fire ; 
 And through the gloomy chimney-place 
 
 Summons the tongues of flame the higher. 
 
 And now responsive shadows play 
 And dance about the lonely room 
 
 Until it seems that joy alone 
 
 Could habit here instead of gloom. 
 
 Oh ! yes, the winds have turned about 
 And now are chasing from the west; 
 
 But oh ! that Fortune's storm could change 
 The tides within this troubled breast. 
 
 Cambridge, April 14, 1882.
 
 Sowing and Reaping 
 
 SOWING AND REAPING 
 
 "One soweth, and another reapeth." John 4:37. 
 
 Surely one man soweth 
 
 While another reaps ; 
 And the mother waketh 
 
 While the baby sleeps. 
 
 Each one finds a harvest 
 Which he never sowed ; 
 
 Each one bearing burdens 
 Lifts another's load. 
 
 Every one is reaper 
 
 From some distant seed ; 
 
 Every one is sower 
 For another's need. 
 
 This is law and gospel ! 
 
 Sweet it is to find 
 When the sowers perish 
 
 Reapers come behind. 
 2
 
 Sowing and Reaping 
 
 Praise the God of Harvest: 
 What is wrought in tears 
 
 Bringeth some one blessings 
 In the mystic years. 
 
 Praise the God of Harvest 
 That another reaps; 
 
 So the labor fails not 
 When the sower sleeps. 
 
 Concord, Mass., November IQ, 1882.
 
 We Two 
 
 WE TWO 
 
 We sat beside the moonlit lake, 
 
 My cherished friend and I ; 
 No sound our converse sweet did break, 
 
 No other soul was nigh. 
 
 The burning day had given place 
 
 To evening cool and fair, 
 And all things seemed our hearts to bless 
 
 The while we lingered there. 
 
 We turned from burdens of the day 
 
 I know not hers, but mine 
 Were those but seldom stayed away, 
 
 A weary daily line. 
 
 We turned from burdens of the day 
 
 And dwelt that while apart 
 From stiff society to say 
 
 The promptings of the heart. 
 
 4
 
 We Two 
 
 So there the truest friendship threw 
 
 Far off the formal cloak ; 
 Nor was there empty thought we knew 
 
 Nor empty word we spoke. 
 
 We looked into each other's hearts 
 And spake our meanings whole, 
 
 And, when some deeper theme would start, 
 We talked from soul to soul. 
 
 It was not love, 'twas friendship pure 
 That bound our feelings then 
 
 A friendship which will rest secure 
 Should we ne'er meet again. 
 
 Such friendship ne'er will find alloy 
 
 In fortune's loss or gain 
 If one but tread the hills of joy, 
 
 The other vales of pain. 
 
 I know not if again may we 
 
 That lakeward walk retrace, 
 Or if in life we e'er may see 
 
 Again each other's face,
 
 We Two 
 
 For now our ways are sundered far, 
 Nor know I where may fall 
 
 The radiance of my fortune's star, 
 Or if it shine at all. 
 
 I only hope there may return 
 Some time such blessed spell ; 
 
 And toward such hour I fondly yearn 
 With wish I scarce may tell. 
 
 We sat beside the moonlit lake, 
 My cherished friend and I 
 
 No lot so hard can hap to break 
 That memory till I die ! 
 
 Cambridge, October g, 1879.
 
 Blossoms 
 
 BLOSSOMS 
 
 By my window there stands a tender tree: 
 Last night it blossomed so fair ; 
 
 And to my couch its perfume, free, 
 Was brought by the evening air. 
 
 So it came in the hush of yesternight, 
 The first faint sense of my love ; 
 
 And I said : " Can it be that the longed-for light 
 Has dropped from the urns above ? " 
 
 From sleep I turned to the starry sky 
 
 And craved to know if a ray, 
 Newborn, had kindled another's eye 
 
 As restless as mine for the day. 
 
 And I said: "I will leave this anxious thought, 
 So sudden and strange it seems ; 
 
 I'll wait and see if my lady be caught 
 In the tell-tale thread of my dreams."
 
 Blossoms 
 
 And now the blossoms that burst in the night 
 Lie fragrant and faint on the ground ; 
 
 And I shut them in memory's casket tight, 
 But the fruitage will never be found. 
 
 Cambridge, April 27, 1882.
 
 Song 
 
 SONG 
 
 I hate to have the summer come 
 Because it brings not thee ; 
 
 The flowers that spring about my home 
 Will whisper woes for me. 
 
 The rose will mock thy beauty's blush, 
 The birds thy heavenly cheer ; 
 
 And Nature's song, or Nature's hush 
 Will say thou art not here. 
 
 Oh! would the winter might abide 
 With naught to liken thee ; 
 
 So I within its tomb might hide, 
 Warmed by thy memory. 
 
 Cambridge, May 4, 1882.
 
 God in the Calling 
 
 GOD IN THE CALLING 
 
 O, the work I have chosen delights my soul 
 
 Beyond all other employ ; 
 And I linger in thought on its far-shining 
 goal, 
 
 And nothing my peace can destroy. 
 
 But if God should choose Him to take away 
 The strength which my life hath blessed, 
 
 Should I ply my new calling gladly each day 
 As surely for me the best ? 
 
 Chicago, April S, 7893. 
 
 10
 
 The Saddest of Thoughts 
 
 THE SADDEST OF 
 THOUGHTS 
 
 The saddest thought that ever found its way 
 Into the curious chambers of the mind 
 Is, that to close the latest earthly day 
 Sums all of life; that all is final, blind 
 Dispose of elements, nor shall we find 
 Rest other than the dusty remnants have 
 Which were our bodies and the soul en- 
 shrined, 
 
 Then to be parted like the unmeaning wave 
 Unfriendly atoms all, forth wandering from 
 the grave. 
 
 Chicago, November jo, 1878. 
 
 II
 
 Waiting 
 
 WAITING 
 
 She waiteth far beyond my sight, 
 The soul that's meant for me ; 
 I see her face 
 Is gentlest grace, 
 And sheds around a tender light, 
 But more I cannot see. 
 
 She came erewhile to bless my dream. 
 And whispered I must wait ; 
 But then I woke 
 Just as she spoke ; 
 
 I turned to catch the vision's gleam, 
 But then it was too late. 
 
 And now in sleep she comes again 
 To let me mark her face, 
 But lingers far, 
 Like Fortune's star, 
 Beyond the circle of my pain 
 She will some time displace. 
 12
 
 Waiting 
 
 Nor eye nor ear nor any sense 
 Of mine hath found her out ; 
 And yet those eyes, 
 O, how I prize ! 
 Discovered by a faith intense, 
 Will bring the time about. 
 
 She dwelleth somewhere in the light 
 Of a most homelike heaven, 
 Nor any love 
 Save that above, 
 
 Which she believes for all is right, 
 To her was ever given. 
 
 She waiteth, yet 'tis I who wait, 
 She liveth only free ; 
 
 Nor may I seem 
 Part of her dream; 
 And yet some time or soon or late 
 She'll come and speak to me. 
 
 Some time she'll come to lift my head 
 As once she seemed in sleep, 
 And bid me rise 
 And see those eyes, 
 
 13
 
 Waiting 
 
 Not fading when the word is said, 
 My treasure e'er to keep. 
 
 O, how they seem to guard my days 
 Until she surely come! 
 
 Those goddess eyes 
 My soul doth prize, 
 Until I leave these weary ways 
 And take her to my home. 
 
 I know she waits, that other soul. 
 Of all for me the best ; 
 
 That sweet unknown 
 So precious grown, 
 Some time will make this being whole 
 Some time will end my quest. 
 
 But now I search adown the years 
 That only face to see 
 
 Whose living beam 
 Will wake my dream : 
 And I through mist of joyous tears 
 Shall know she looks on me ! 
 
 Cambridge, November 28, 1881.
 
 Love's Flower 
 
 LOVE'S FLOWER 
 
 My love was no sudden-blooming flower 
 That burst from the darkness of night, 
 
 Rejoicing in a perfect power 
 To be and live in the light. 
 
 For when it felt in the early days 
 
 The warmth of thy summoning beam, 
 
 It hardly dared to turn away 
 
 From its dark and narrow dream. 
 
 And when thy smile first fell on my heart 
 
 It could not leap to thy kiss ; 
 I could not claim that light for my part 
 
 Which the wide world must not miss. 
 
 So I dared not think it was meant for me, 
 And my life was timid and slow; 
 
 But love hath now no life but in thee, 
 And asketh none other to know. 
 
 Cambridge, April, 1882. 
 
 15
 
 The Song and the Deed 
 
 THE SONG AND THE DEED 
 
 There was never a song that was sung by thee, 
 But a sweeter one was meant to be. 
 
 There was never a deed that was grandly 
 
 done, 
 But a greater was meant by some earnest one. 
 
 For the sweetest voice can never impart 
 The song that trembles within the heart. 
 
 And the brain and hand can never quite do 
 The thing that the soul has fondly in view. 
 
 And hence are the tears and the burdens of 
 
 pain, 
 For the shining goals are never to gain. 
 
 16
 
 The Song and the Deed 
 
 And the real song is ne'er heard by man, 
 Nor the work ever done for which we plan. 
 
 But enough, that a God can hear and see 
 The song and the deed that were meant to be! 
 
 Chicago, February 19, 1895.
 
 Loss 
 
 LOSS 
 
 A little disc of loss 
 
 Doth hang before the eye 
 And cast its sad eclipse across 
 
 The broad and beauteous sky. 
 
 And the creation vast, 
 Is not as 'twas before 
 
 As if its glory all had passed 
 And beauty were no more. 
 
 Yet there it beams as broad 
 Its speech is there to learn; 
 
 And in the loss, a waiting God 
 Giveth new joy to earn! 
 
 Cambridge, October 21, 1879. 
 
 18
 
 Startling 
 
 STARTLING 
 
 My love, I loved another maid, 
 And yet to you I am true ; 
 
 I loved her as she passed the street, 
 And her dream like image flew ; 
 
 I loved that other maid, my love, 
 Because methought it was you ! 
 
 Cambridge, June 14, 1892.
 
 To Lake Michigan 
 
 TO LAKE MICHIGAN 
 
 Here have I been full oft before, 
 And spent the early evening hour, 
 
 And heard the waters' muffled roar, 
 And felt the searching of their power. 
 
 To thee, fair Lake, I turn again 
 
 To breathe once more thy sweetened breath, 
 And catch such meaning from thy strain 
 
 As may go with me till my death. 
 
 For nears the time when we must part ; 
 
 And thou hast been a friend to me, 
 And spoken sweetly to my heart, 
 
 And whispered some deep liberty, 
 
 What time I left my daily cares 
 And felt a portion of thy peace, 
 
 Which stole upon me unawares 
 And gave me undeserved release.
 
 To Lake Michigan 
 
 Oh! may thy soothing spell return 
 When I am sundered far away ; 
 
 And may such evening rapture yearn 
 After the travails of the day 
 
 Come and remind in after years 
 How once I used to dream of thee, 
 
 And saw the furthering of my tears 
 In what my lot was bound to be. 
 
 Oh, leastwise, let me not forget 
 
 How, when my days did vainly glide, 
 
 I found some promptings in thee yet 
 And felt me nobler at thy side. 
 
 Chicago, July 32, 
 
 21
 
 Lost Opportunity 
 
 LOST OPPORTUNITY 
 
 I stood beside an open gate 
 
 Which showed beyond field after field 
 Wherein did richest pastures wait, 
 
 Sure-scented though but half-revealed. 
 
 I thought me then to enter there, 
 Till by some outer calling led ; 
 
 I turned my wandering otherwhere 
 And found but weariness instead. 
 
 And though some gates of promise may 
 Ope often on my sight again, 
 
 There never greets me by the way, 
 Such vista as invited then! 
 
 Chicago, June 25, 1879. 
 
 22
 
 The Message of Jesus 
 
 THE MESSAGE OF JESUS 
 
 Said Jesus, when he came to me, 
 "I have no worldly store to give ; 
 
 I only came that you might see 
 The better how to live. 
 
 " I point where living waters flow, 
 Far wandering from the paths of sin ; 
 
 Nor house, nor lands I only show 
 Immortal wealth within." 
 
 Said Jesus when his gift I knew : 
 " Behold, I am the Way to live ; 
 
 Tell freely as I told it you : 
 I gave that you might give." 
 
 Valatic, N. Y.
 
 Functions 
 
 FUNCTIONS 
 
 I said, in a sunny-hearted time, 
 
 "No one there lives but hath somewhat of 
 
 good ! " 
 Beautiful saying to fit into rhyme 
 
 Beautiful message, but half understood. 
 
 Then the years came along with stealthy tread 
 And slowly their fingers whitened my hair, 
 
 While my motto became as one of the dead, 
 Buried amidst my sorrows and care. 
 
 And when I recalled it, I thought me so wise 
 That I said : "The thought is but fancy of 
 youth; 
 
 For many a soul is worthless and dies, 
 
 Void of all prophet I seek but the truth." 
 
 24
 
 Functions 
 
 But then I grew weary and longed for repose, 
 And sought for the passionless peace of the 
 
 tomb, 
 Till I seemed all unuseful and lone, and I 
 
 chose 
 To sink in the tide of oblivion's gloom. 
 
 Then one came to love me, and light burst 
 around, 
 
 And I knew all are useful or here or above; 
 God seeth the sparrow that falls to the ground, 
 
 And every soul merits another soul's love. 
 
 Concord, August 2, 1882.
 
 Rest 
 
 REST 
 
 Breathed never fairer evening spell 
 Than broods around me at this hour: 
 
 Nor ever Nature's parts so well 
 Blent into one entrancing power. 
 
 And ever doth a gentle breeze 
 
 Slow wander o'er the water's breast, 
 
 With message from the outer seas 
 That all around is sweetest rest. 
 
 Yes, peace is reigning everywhere 
 But in the central soul, which sings 
 
 And finds for its unrest and care 
 No healing in the evening's wings. 
 
 But, somehow, seem the waves to say, 
 The while they sing the evening psalm, 
 
 That some time there will come a day 
 When this worn life will be as calm. 
 
 Chicago, June 21, 1879. 
 
 26
 
 My Debts 
 
 MY DEBTS 
 
 The tender song of passing bird 
 Broke in upon my silence lone, 
 
 And something in its strain I heard 
 Revealed a joy before unknown. 
 
 Methought, as soon it flew away, 
 
 Its song I never could repay. 
 
 Fain had I paid that sudden debt, 
 And fed the bird and kept it warm, 
 
 And chosen it to be my pet 
 
 And sheltered it from every storm ; 
 
 But fell from its enraptured song 
 
 No hint of where it might belong. 
 
 But from its cadence sweet there fell 
 One strain had soothed me into rest. 
 
 Had it not whispered just as well, 
 My wish could never reach its nest, 
 
 To add one comfort to its home 
 
 Or give one errand less to roam. 
 27
 
 My Debts 
 
 So many a life its message sweet 
 Drops in upon my weary way 
 
 Some whisper I can ne'er repeat, 
 A joy I never can repay. 
 
 Like music, of a tender strain, 
 
 That soothes, and quick is gone again. 
 
 Yes, from the world on every side 
 Soft messages are borne to me 
 
 Like music caught on mystic tide, 
 
 That swells from Life's mysterious sea. 
 
 Though hearing much, I listen well, 
 
 I hear what I can never tell. 
 
 Great God ! how can I e'er repay 
 The gift unearned that angels bring, 
 
 That through the noise of every day 
 Upon me breathe their offering 
 
 The privilege of now and here 
 
 To drink the music of the sphere ? 
 
 28
 
 My Debts 
 
 But more and more they come and sing 
 The songs that overswell my debt; 
 
 And more and more their burdens bring 
 While giving ne'er, I ever get. 
 
 This debt, unpaid, will, by and by, 
 
 Imprison me until I die. 
 
 Cambridge, January, 2881. 
 
 29
 
 Love, the Crown of Creation 
 
 LOVE, THE CROWN OF 
 CREATION 
 
 How matchless was Creation's march when 
 
 man, 
 Last summoned, stepped into the foremost 
 
 place 
 
 And looked the lower orders in the face, 
 His godlike brow bespeaking him the van! 
 How vast God's skill, if there had ceased the 
 
 plan 
 
 With that lone model of the human race! 
 His Maker's image, set in perfect grace, 
 With promise of the endless things he can! 
 But 'twas not meet that man should be alone 
 In that supremacy, with nought to prove 
 No sacrifice, no brotherhood to own, 
 No tenderness to turn his thoughts above : 
 Creation lacked its crown until that throne 
 Was tremulous unto the touch of Love. 
 
 1882. 
 
 3
 
 Death's Mystery 
 
 DEATH'S MYSTERY 
 
 How far, I wonder, have my dear ones fled 
 Into the regions hidden from my sight 
 Helping to people in the realms of light, 
 With all the countless spirits of the dead, 
 A mighty world, whereof the prophet said 
 O'er its fair landscape cometh never night; 
 Nor sun nor moon shall make its valleys 
 
 bright, 
 
 For God himself shall be the Light instead ? 
 How far, I wonder, have my dear ones gone ? 
 And yet I must not wonder, but abide 
 God's purposes till they be fuller grown, 
 And in the mystery His wisdom guide 
 My life to waken in the vast Unknown 
 And find its way to Love's familiar side. 
 
 April, 2889. 
 
 31
 
 Harmony 
 
 HARMONY 
 
 As in the swelling of some chorus sweet, 
 Which, many-voiced, pours full upon the ear 
 Its flood of consonance, we seem to hear 
 But the fine blending where the voices meet, 
 Nor reck if in our rapture so replete 
 We miss the several voice, which fain would 
 
 near 
 
 Its end of excellence and gain the cheer 
 That the well-doing of its part may greet: 
 So in the mystic harmony of life 
 Makes each one melody, though noisy days 
 Unfit his hearing; and beyond the strife 
 The ear of God detects the song we raise, 
 And waits till through the universe is rife 
 The glorious climax of our Maker's praise. 
 
 Chicago, March 8, 1879.
 
 Pity Not the Dead 
 
 PITY NOT THE DEAD 
 
 O visit not the kingdom of the dead 
 With one regret for them, for all is gain 
 That comes in surest meed of joy or pain 
 And all that takes inevitable stead 
 Of this short life ; O pity not the dead, 
 So silent now in death, the quiet brain 
 Urging no more endeavors that are vain, 
 And soon to blend it with its earthly bed. 
 Now doth the soul press forward its career, 
 With not a step but doth for progress count ; 
 And every wrong and hardship suffered here 
 Helps on the freedom that doth ever mount 
 The slope of heavenly growth without a fear, 
 And every grade hath its refreshing fount. 
 
 Chicago, March 27, 1895. 
 
 33
 
 One Master 
 
 ONE MASTER 
 
 A Voice came wafted to me from the sea, 
 Burdened with deep reproof and touched with 
 
 pain, 
 
 And as I turned me to the land again 
 The self-same message echoed unto me : 
 "What part, O wayward soul, have I in thee? 
 One purpose only in the world doth reign, 
 One mighty will, and yet thou dost in vain 
 Chase forth and yon, as if some fragment, free 
 To choose thy life apart. Oh, rather find 
 Thy freedom in My will, and ever shun 
 The phantom of thy selfishness and bind 
 Thy conscious life to Mine, no more to run 
 And do the bidding of the changing mind. 
 One Master thou canst serve, and only one." 
 
 Magnolia, August ij, 1889. 
 
 34
 
 Tiring of Toys 
 
 TIRING OF TOYS 
 
 Tiring of toys and all his daily glee, 
 His ruddy face pressing the window pane, 
 A little boy with health in every vein 
 Looks out upon the winter wild and free, 
 And gazes through the whitening storms to 
 
 see 
 
 If he who bringeth Christmas gifts again, 
 Perchance is stealing o'er the dusky plain 
 To seek the fireside of his nursery. 
 E'en more the soul whom deeper weariness 
 Turns from the play of life, to wonder why 
 It satisfieth not amid the press 
 Of problems, peers into the baffling sky, 
 If haply One who more than life can bless 
 May note his humble window passing by. 
 
 Cambridge, December 75, 1880. 
 35
 
 Immanuel 
 
 IMMANUEL 
 
 I came to thee, My child, when night was 
 
 still, 
 
 And spoke to thee in thy most secret thought, 
 With the first knowledge of the struggle 
 
 fraught 
 
 Between thy baser and thy purer will ; 
 I came to thee and left thee not until 
 The path was clear whereof My wisdom 
 
 taught ; 
 
 And brooding o'er thee, the Eternal Aught, 
 A sweet submission came thy soul to fill. 
 And as My spirit leaned upon thee then, 
 Thou knew'st My name was Duty and My 
 
 way 
 
 Looked not unto expedience of men. 
 Still know, when Duty turns to Love, that day 
 That I have come and supped with thee 
 
 again, 
 And but thyself can bid Me stranger stay. 
 
 36
 
 PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY * SONS 
 COMPANY, AT THE LAKESIDE PRESS, 
 CHICAGO, UNDER THE DIRECTION 
 OF STONE & KIMBALL, MDCCCXCV
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 to inn 
 
 KUV 1 1992
 
 
 . 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A 000 670 571 9
 
 
 Sc 
 L